Preventing & Treating Skateboarding Injuries

All athletes are prone to injury.  Skateboarders are no different.  The irony is, many times skaters do not think of themselves as athletes & the classic sense, yet are sometimes more at risk given the ‘extreme’ nature of what they do.  Whether it is airing out of 10’ bowl or ollie-ing a staircase, the penalty for failure at the very least is impacting a very hard surface and coming to an abrupt halt, expressed by Newton’s law of Force = Mass x Acceleration, where the concrete always wins.  Yet many skaters, (who tend to have youth & plenty of ego on their side), do not warm-up, stretch, wear protective equipment, or cross-train with other forms of exercise, in order to improve strength, joint-integrity & flexibility.  No other elite athlete would train or compete with such personal neglect.

                Most of us skate for fun and couldn't care less about competition or elite performance – this is true.  However, no matter why you skate, getting injured SUCKS, especially if you can’t skateL

The intent here is not to sound preachy.  Skateboarding has always been about non-conforming & expressing individuality, and is certainly not considered a mainstream or conventional sport (though this perspective seems to be rapidly changing in our society).  In fact many of us came to love skateboarding because there are no coaches and no rules or because it was an outlet from ‘normal’ team sports.  Indeed skating is as much an art form as it is a sport.  This is not intended to be a political discussion, or about the obvious protective benefits of wearing helmets and pads – we wouldn’t waste your time!

This is about INCREASING longevity as skater: Taking care of your body & your joints so you can skate longer & pain-free.  Injuries are inevitable if you skate long & hard enough, but you can take steps to prevent most of them, minimize their severity and recover more quickly.  In fact, skating is an amazing full body, functional exercise, and a path to a fitter, healthier mind, body & soul.

What can you do?  Much of it you know already, especially if you ever played other conventional sports.  LISTEN to your body.  Put in the time.  Pay your dues, and your body will love you for it.  Your joints, tendons & ligaments will be STRONG when you need them to:

Physique Star Radio: (2/16/12): Fitness Model Max Wettstein! Plus: Dr. Connelly gets in depth on Creatine!

My latest interview on fitness-modeling as a guest on Physique Star Radio
Physique Star Radio: (2/16/12): Fitness Model Max Wettstein! Plus: Dr. Connelly gets in depth on Creatine!

Surviving a Fitness Infomercial (As the Talent!)

Congratulations!  You’ve booked an infomercial…one of the most publicized and well-paying fitness modeling jobs you can land to include national TV exposure and possibly your gateway to hosting and other promotional gigs!  While a national magazine cover is about the best you can hope for in print media for prestige and exposure, it is still can’t touch the exposure or showcase your physique like film or TV can, and the pay doesn’t even come close to that of an infomercial.  In fact as many of you may have encountered by now a magazine cover may only pay $300!  You’ve worked hard for this moment: training, dieting, networking, auditioning against colleagues at the top of their game, and now finally you’ve booked it!  It is time to enjoy the reward for all your efforts!

                So what then do I mean when I say “SURVIVE” a fitness-infomercial??  I just want to give you a heads-up on what booking an infomercial can encompass: Basically you need to have the entire day blocked out and be prepared for anything and everything the producers want, ESPECIALLY, if you did not book the job through an agency who will negotiate for your rate and limitations, for a fee of 20% of course.  So good on you if you were able to get booked without an agency, but now you’re on your own – you need to know what to expect!

On set with Hoist Fitness Systems where I shot video of about 200 exercises this day with actual weight

How I Landed My First Cover: 'Men's Fitness' Magazine April 2004 Issue

     My very fist cover-try resulted in landing the cover of the April 2004 domestic issue of Men’s Fitness magazine.  I guess I didn’t realize it at the time, but that was kind of unique & remarkable, especially now that Men’s Fitness typically only puts celebrities on their covers.  More commonly, fitness models tend to work their way up to landing a national fitness-magazine cover by appearing on several e-magazine or catalog covers first before they’re even considered for a national magazine cover-try.  Yet there I was, inexperienced and naïve somehow landing Men’s Fitness as my first cover!  Was it because I was a genetic Adonis?  Was I simply lucky?  Was it because I was persistent & a proactive self-promoter?  The answer to all these questions was NO!  Obviously I had the ‘look’ necessary to appear on a fit-mag cover, but so did several thousand other guys.  So what set me apart from all of them?

'Men's Fitness' Magazine (Domestic) April 2004 Issue with Max on the cover shot in a studio in mid-town Manhattan

I Sk8

     What?  A grown-man and father...an airline Captain who skateboards?  A bit juvenile you say?  Not around these parts.  Not around SoCal, especially Encinitas California, perhaps known as the epicenter of vert & transition skating.  Did I mention my neighbors are Tony Hawk, Andy Macdonald & Cara-Beth Burnside?  Did I mention the 2003 X-Games half-pipe sk8 event was held 5 minutes from my house, the same park where Shaun White learned how to skate?  My daughter goes to school with Mike McGill's daughter.  My CPA neighbor gets his mail everyday, barefoot on his skateboard.  When we're not surfing (or working), we're skating.  Did I mention we built a wooden skate-bowl in our backyard?  Yeah, I have a really cool wife, and she skates too.  Skateboarding is pretty much a family affair and a way of life around here.  It certainly doesn't soley define us and we're not that good, but its become a passion that bonds our family together.  Actually I should speak for my self - my daughter is that good, considering her age, and I am her coach.  In fact she is ranked top 12 in the world in women's bowl-skating.  But enough about her...

     ...Why am I so ADDICTED to skating?...and yes I meant addicted:  Skating is FUN and it is full-body, functional fitness that involves the 'FLOW' psychological factor, meaning it keeps one completely immersed in the 'present moment' as it challenges just enough to heighten one's awareness & focus while still preserving fun-factor and triggering a massive surge of reward neurotransmitter dopamine.  Dopamine is the same neurotransmitter released when one indulges in chocolate or to be more explicit & literal, when cocaine is snorted, which triggers an instant flood of dopamine...lasting for about 30 minutes.